Pedophile Priest Fugitive Found Freely Roaming the Streets of Verona

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VERONA, Italy (ChurchMilitant.com) - A pedophile priest wanted by Argentine authorities was found freely walking the streets in Verona on Wednesday.

Father Eliseo Pirmati, 83, is one of the priests involved in the sexual abuse of deaf and mute minors at the Provolo Institute in Argentina (La Plata and Mendoza) and Italy (Verona).

Pirmati, an Italian priest sent to the Provolo Institute in La Placa in 1974, has been credibly accused of gruesomely abusing deaf minors.

Jorge Moya Panisello, the judge of La Placa, issued an arrest warrant dated April 23, 2019 for Pirmati, who is being charged for repeatedly forcing deaf children entrusted to the institute's care to perform obscene sexual acts and corrupting minors; however, when the police arrived at the location, the pedophile priest was already gone.

Pirmati had absconded to Verona, Italy in December 2017.

A journalist working for L'Espresso confronted Pirmati as the pedophile priest fugitive was leaving Santa Teresa degli Scalzi in Verona after attending Mass.

The journalist approaches and says, "Fr. Pirmati, hello."

Pirmati looks over to see who is calling him. Before the journalist can ask his first question, Pirmati extends his hand to cover the camera.

"Do you know that there is a warrant for your arrest in Argentina?" asks the journalist.

"Excuse me," responds Pirmati. It is a polite way of telling the journalist to leave him alone.

"Do you intend to comply?" asks the journalist.

"Excuse me. I am heading to my street," responds Pirmati.

"Don't be stupid," he adds.

"Whatever," says the journalist. "I am just on the street asking you some questions."

"Who are you?" asks Pirmati.

"I am a journalist," he responds. "I want to know if you intend to comply with this order for your arrest."

"I don't know anything," responds Pirmati as he picks up his pace.

As the two cross a street, the journalist asks, "What has the bishop said?"

Eventually, Pirmati responds, "I don't know anything about these things."

"I know nothing. I know nothing. I have nothing to do with it," he adds.

The journalist continues to follow Pirmati down a side street.

"Are you returning to Provolo [the Provolo Institute in Verona]?" asks the journalist.

After they walk a little farther down the street quietly, Pirmati breaks the silence, saying, "I am just some guy on the street."

"You're not Pirmati then — Fr. Eliseo Pirmati?" asks the journalist.

"These Argentine accusations could be made up. Why don't you offer your version of the facts?" asks the journalist after another period of silence.

"That could be. I know nothing," responds Pirmati.

"And how was life at the institute in La Placa?" asks the journalist.

It is obvious Pirmati does not want to be bothered and has no intention of answering the journalist's questions.

He reaches the Provolo Insitute, opens the door and disappears into the building.

Italian survivor groups informed the Vatican of this scandal in Italy and Pope Francis' home country of Argentina in 2008 and 2014, according to Bishop Accountability.

The Vatican and other Church authorities were informed that one of these pedophile priests, Nicola Corradi, was credibly accused in Verona.

No Church authority took action to bring Corradi to justice.

Corradi relocated to the Mendoza branch in Argentina where he abused more children.

These new crimes caught up to him in December 2016 when the Argentine police arrested him.

"It is appalling and heartbreaking that Corradi was not stopped by Pope Francis or by other Church authorities. Corradi's presence at the school in Mendoza was no secret," said Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of Bishop Accountability.

In 2017, Church Militant spoke with Italian author Emiliano Fittipaldi, author of Lust: Sins, Scandals and Betrayals of a Church Made of Men. The book details never-before-known facts regarding sexual scandals in Rome.

Commenting on the Provolo scandal, Fittipaldi said, "These deaf-mute students were discredited, this priest that was transferred to Argentina had been accused, and he ended up arrested by the police."

"This demonstrates how much these cases aren't taken seriously still today," he added.

That was in 2017; nothing has changed.

As pedophile priest Emilio Pirmati freely walks the streets of Verona, with an arrest warrant in Argentina hanging over his head, neither Pope Francis nor any ecclesiastical authority has done anything to date in the interest of justice.

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